Your Vaping Odyssey?

[Elizabeth Baldwin]

I find it interesting to see where fellow vapors started their adventure and where it landed them now.

My odyssey started with an online Facebook friend raving about a cigalike that stopped her from smoking. Now I know this lady from the real world from a few years back...a very heavy chain smoker who had smoked since her teen years. She's around 44 or so...so she had been smoking for many years. I thought, hmmmm there must be something in an ecig that works. So I started searching online and found a kit. It had a sample of each of their cartridges and 2 standard cigalike batteries with all sorts of raving you tube videos so I purchased one. After receiving it I thought ok, this isn't bad, I can do this. Do, I ordered about a 100 bucks worth of cartridges, which was enough to last a while. The next day after receiving my kit, I ordered my husband a kit and another 100 in cartridges. Before his kit or my order for extra cartridges arrived I found Egos. Wow... I decided to order 2 sets of those too and some eliquid. A lot of eliquid. I continued using my cigalike until my ego came in the mail. I couldn't wait on the eliquid to arrive, I wanted to try it out, so I dug online and found a local store. I bought 3 bottles. Cafe Latte, East Coast Tobacco, and cotton candy. The Cafe Latte was yummy, but the other 2 were just gross. The next day my eliquids arrived. Oh wow. A whole new world.

My husbands cigalike kit arrived and stayed unopened along with 200 bucks in cartridges...all unopened and unused. I had found eliquid and all the wondrous flavors. I thought it was perfect until I found ECF a few days later. My EGO had only a week or so use before I purchased 2 Itaste VTRs with iclear 30s. Wow. It was much better than my ego. So, my ego went into the abyss drawer with all the unused cigalike stuff, along with my husband's unused cigalikes. Now we had VTRs. It couldn't get any better...right? LOL. Well... I, or we, then decided we wanted mechanicals and some rebuildable stuff. We purchased 2 Smoktech Magnetos, and 2 Kayfun Lites, as well as a day later 2 Russian 91s, some Kanthal wire and sterile cotton balls. Now we have added 2 Nemesis, several other rebuildables and just keep buying. Every week is like Christmas with Vape mail. Then... I found the joys of making my own juices. Yummy. This is just too much fun...

Id say we've spent at least 3000 if not much more. But...it's worth every penny. Recently we gave all our cigalike, mostly unopened and unused, to my husband's brother, and he loves it. That was a few hundred bucks lost...but at least we could PIF. Don't you wish you could have researched first, found ECF before buying junk? But I suppose it's baby steps. Stepping stones....
Now we both are Pros... Chain vaping all the time...my favorite is still the VTR with either a Russian or Kayfun built at 1.4 ohms set at 15 watts... Yummy vanilla tobacco...50/50 6mg

so that's a quick breakdown of our Odyssey! So what's your story?

 

[Recycled Roadkill]

I bought a cigalike 3+ years ago, used up the 10 cartridges that came with it and I'd always light up a cigarette after using it. It was useless to me.

2 1/2 years later I discovers the starter sets. What a HUGE difference.

I'm amazed that anyone can quit cigarettes using a cigalike. And yet, I'm tempted to try a Blu just to check it out.

 

[Elizabeth Baldwin]

I agree. After you taste the better equipment they seem useless.

 

[Butters80]

I tried cigalikes about 4 years ago. They were like trying to suck a golf ball through a garden hose and inconsistent at all the wrong moments. Fast forward to July of 2013, my parents got me a pen style starter kit....better than the cigalikes but meh. I moved up to 1300mah vision spinners with vivi novas, sample packs from mbv and some b&m's. Much better. Vamo, itaste svd, spire.... Aspire nautilus, and onto russian 91% and kafun lite clones. Have been rebuilding the nova heads so the russian 91% and kafun lite clones have made vaping oh so much better.
And on it goes.

 

[Elizabeth Baldwin]

I tried cigalikes about 4 years ago. They were like trying to suck a golf ball through a garden hose and inconsistent at all the wrong moments. Fast forward to July of 2013, my parents got me a pen style starter kit....better than the cigalikes but meh. I moved up to 1300mah vision spinners with vivi novas, sample packs from mbv and some b&m's. Much better. Vamo, itaste svd, spire.... Aspire nautilus, and onto russian 91% and kafun lite clones. Have been rebuilding the nova heads so the russian 91% and kafun lite clones have made vaping oh so much better.
And on it goes.

I totally agree! Vaping on a Russian is awesome.

 

[Ryedan]

I'm one of those silly people that research almost anything before buying one. I was on ECF for a week or two before I bought my eGo-C starter kit. Went into it with eyes open and while there were a lot of people that did not like that system, it worked well for me. Bought a couple of eGo Twists after a couple of months and discovered the CE4 which was a better experience compared to the C attys. Then got a VV mod, switched to Vivi Novas and then cartos and got into DIY. Wondered what all the fuss about sub ohm was about so I tried that and was almost instantly hooked.

It's been a fun ride. I hope vaping doesn't get legislated to the point that makes it difficult for new people to get into.

 

[Elizabeth Baldwin]

I'm one of those silly people that research almost anything before buying one. I was on ECF for a week or two before I bought my eGo-C starter kit. Went into it with eyes open and while there were a lot of people that did not like that system, it worked well for me. Bought a couple of eGo Twists after a couple of months and discovered the CE4 which was a better experience compared to the C attys. Then got a VV mod, switched to Vivi Novas and then cartos and got into DIY. Wondered what all the fuss about sub ohm was about so I tried that and was almost instantly hooked.

It's been a fun ride. I hope vaping doesn't get legislated to the point that makes it difficult for new people to get into.

I hope they don't legislate vaping either. That would be just terrible for newbies and even us...

 

[xanderxman]

I started with a V2 cig-a-like. I quit smoking the day it arrived and I am lucky for that. I quickly moved on to an eGo Twist within a week. That lasted for a few months and then I ordered a ProVari. That lasted a year and I started to wonder about mechs. I now own a couple of mechs and a few RDAs. Within about 18 months I went from cig-a-like to RDAs and mechs.

It has been a great journey and I have loved the ride. I am now floating around tasting different liquids. I am satisfied with my equipment and will only splurge occasionally for something new. But liquid, I am spending quite a bit in that department.

 

[Buggainok]

@Ryedan, I'm also one of those silly research people....except for New Year's Day, 2014, when I impulsively went into the Walgreen Drug near my house and bought a Blu starter kit. I had seen a commercial on TV about it, and something just clicked in my head after all those years of thinking, thinking, thinking about quitting smoking, and then smoking, smoking, smoking and not doing anything about it.

I came home with the Blu, determined to give it a fair shot. It was cute, small, and actually put out some vapor. And a little tobacco flavor, too. I used it for two days and didn't smoke a single cigarette during that time. I had no time to smoke, because I was constantly taking the Blu apart and charging and recharging the teeny, tiny batteries that seemed to last about 30 minutes before conking out.

I was a shut-in for two days, terrified to leave the house because what if the battery quit, and I had to smoke a cigarette, after two whole days of success?

Then the magic happened. Using the Blu, I had determined that the concept of e cigarettes would allow me to not smoke. I got on the internet and discovered this wonderful, wonderful forum and all the great people who post here. I sat in front of this computer for hours and hours (except when I had to get up and charge that darn puny Blu cigarette!) I read and read and read until my eyes crossed over.

Then I took some of that information to the local vape shop and got myself an ego starter kit and 3 bottles of juice. I will say, the kids at that shop were mightily impressed that this grandma knew a thing or two about how this whole thing worked, and what she wanted. And yes, I thought I wanted something that tasted like my cigarettes, like a lot of newbies do. I got 2 tobacco flavors, which were horrid. Thank goodness, the little gal there talked me into some Banana Nut Bread which was a lifesaver until I got some other flavors.

I filled up my tanks, charged up those Egos and took off vaping. I haven't stopped (except to upgrade a little, of course.)

This has been and continues to be one of the more interesting and exciting experiences of my life. And I'm pretty old and have had a lot of experiences!

 

[Ryedan]

@Ryedan, I'm also one of those silly research people....except for New Year's Day, 2014, when I impulsively went into the Walgreen Drug near my house and bought a Blu starter kit. I had seen a commercial on TV about it, and something just clicked in my head after all those years of thinking, thinking, thinking about quitting smoking, and then smoking, smoking, smoking and not doing anything about it.

I came home with the Blu, determined to give it a fair shot. It was cute, small, and actually put out some vapor. And a little tobacco flavor, too. I used it for two days and didn't smoke a single cigarette during that time. I had no time to smoke, because I was constantly taking the Blu apart and charging and recharging the teeny, tiny batteries that seemed to last about 30 minutes before conking out.

I was a shut-in for two days, terrified to leave the house because what if the battery quit, and I had to smoke a cigarette, after two whole days of success?

Then the magic happened. Using the Blu, I had determined that the concept of e cigarettes would allow me to not smoke. I got on the internet and discovered this wonderful, wonderful forum and all the great people who post here. I sat in front of this computer for hours and hours (except when I had to get up and charge that darn puny Blu cigarette!) I read and read and read until my eyes crossed over.

Then I took some of that information to the local vape shop and got myself an ego starter kit and 3 bottles of juice. I will say, the kids at that shop were mightily impressed that this grandma knew a thing or two about how this whole thing worked, and what she wanted. And yes, I thought I wanted something that tasted like my cigarettes, like a lot of newbies do. I got 2 tobacco flavors, which were horrid. Thank goodness, the little gal there talked me into some Banana Nut Bread which was a lifesaver until I got some other flavors.

I filled up my tanks, charged up those Egos and took off vaping. I haven't stopped (except to upgrade a little, of course.)

This has been and continues to be one of the more interesting and exciting experiences of my life. And I'm pretty old and have had a lot of experiences!

That's a great story Buggainok

Vape on

 

[Nikkita6]

Well Elizabeth, I have told my story so many times that I am sick of my story ... but I like your story, talk about quick progressions. For the folks that think cigalikes are a waste, I don't know what you used, but the original Kanger KR808D-1 w/72mm 280 mah auto batteries were the bees knees IMO .. and clearly some other thought the same because it has been rebranded (The Volt, Smokeless image, Bloog) to death! .. now the Joyetech cigalikes were a horse of different color.

Now, I have long since moved on from cigalikes, but I still have them in my arsenal, and for sure enjoy whipping one out every now and again. But my present set up, Taifun GT and Astro mech, mmmm, a very nice vape

 

[deeezer]

I'm one of the oddballs that didn't get into vaping to quit smoking. I was a PAD smoker from the age of 15 to 25. After many attempts to quit I finally quit cold turkey. I have been a non-smoker for 16 years now, but I always missed it. Every time I tried to enjoy a random smoke I was always disappointed. Cigarettes tasted horrible and I no longer got any satisfaction from them, but I still missed smoking.

I purchased an NJoy kit for my girlfriend a couple years back. She likes the occasional cigarette but was never an actual smoker. She was somewhat satisfied with the NJoy but still smoked an occasional cigarette. I didn't like the NJoy at all so I figured vaping wasn't for me. A couple months ago we were hanging out at a friend's house and I got to try his iTaste vv V3 with some menthol ejuice. My mind was blown. It was more than satisfying. I couldn't stop thinking about it.

A week later I went online and bought my girlfriend an ego starter kit. It arrived two days later and I charged it. We went to a local B&M the next day to sample some flavors. We were both interested in 0 nic, but ended up buying 0 nic Black Cherry, 6 mg Dragon Heart, and a cheap Smok RBC clearo. We were very impressed with this cheap 20 dollar starter kit. We went back to the B&M the next day and purchased 0 nic Green Lantern, 6 mg Fireball, and a couple AR0 2 pyrex clearos. The ARO'S worked even better with the ego. I liked the flavors we had, but I thought only a good menthol could be my ADV. I picked up 6 mg Mighty Menthol from the same B&M and 6 mg NuPier from LeCig. The Mighty Menthol became my ADV and I couldn't get a good vape out of the NuPier.

I was hooked and wanted more gear. I wanted a mechanical, but I wanted to go the cheap route. I figured I'd have plenty of time to invest more into this new hobby. I purchased a Kamry K103 kit off ebay. To my surprise the ebay vendor included a 15ml bottle of 8 mg Venetian Vapor Jolly Rancher. I decided to give this Jolly Rancher a try. I liked it. I liked it a lot. Right now it's my ADV. I also purchased a Protank 3, a UD Igo-W, some kanthal, and some cotton balls. The Igo-W is great. I'm playing around with different coils and I'm loving it. The PT3 doesn't work so well with the K103 or the ego but it doesn't surprise me either. I was planning on rebuilding it for my needs anyways, but haven't even messed with it yet because I'm enjoying the Igo-w and k103 clearo right now.

I have all I need right now. I don't have everything I want, but I will eventually. I will probably get a vv/vw passthru mod next, maybe a MVP2. After that I know I will want more mechanicals and RDA's. And I'm also getting the itch to start mixing my own juice.